I find that anything I put in the crisper drawer will always go bad because I forget to look in there
I just tossed out some melted lettuce for the same reason. :(
Wait, wilted or straight up melted?
Cause if it straight up melted, how long has it been in there?! Was it still green when it broke down into its most basic form?
“decomposed” may be a better word for it. If you leave lettuce and other leafy greens for too long they eventually break down into a watery green sludge that you have to bury under something else in the garbage so no one else will see it and blame you lol
Not the person you asked but I have 100% had greens (I don’t think it was lettuce, maybe mustard) that I can only have described as melted. They turn from a normal leafy green into this nasty green sludge. I don’t know how long there were in there but I’m sure it was months.
Didn’t you notice the smell
I heard advice that you should store your condiments in there and fruits and veggies just go on the regular shelves. They may spoil a bit faster on the shelves, but you’ll remember to use them.
I store a big bag of carrots in my crisper bc they keep so long and I always throw a couple in whatever I’m cooking, but leafy greens, broccoli, etc go on the shelves.
Why is it that I never have all the components of a sandwich in at one time for longer than one day?
Most of my food spends most of its time waiting for the final ingredient to show up
Soak a kitchen towel, wring it out, and line the bottom of the crisper with it. Feel it every once in a while to make sure it’s still damp. That’ll let your crisper be what it was designed to be: a little high-humidity box in an otherwise arid refrigerator.
Also, take note of how produce is stored at the grocery store. If the store doesn’t refrigerate something (apples, tomatoes, avocados to name a couple), odds are you shouldn’t either. The fruits and veggies that belong in the crisper are the ones that are periodically misted with water in the case at the store. Also probably don’t keep anything tightly wrapped in plastic.
Finally some hecking good damn advice
That I’m not going to use ofc
I see that Rao’s Homemade Marinara though, that’s good stuff
Diced onions and peppers freeze fantastically as long as you plan to use them in a sauce or soup. For some veg it’s also better to buy frozen if you’re not planning on eating it raw or cooking it immediately, like broccoli. Jesus Christ, never let broccoli rot. I’m pretty sure some corpses smell better.
Allegedly washing and drying veg also makes it last longer, but I always feel like if I made it that far I might as well just prep and store it.
That’s a lot of marinara and apple sauce.
I think nitrogen is also widely used to prevent spoilage.
Have you ever tried using an ozone generator in the refrigerator? A colleague of mine said that vegetables stay fresh much longer, but I wasn’t convinced.
it’s a lot of hassle compared to just dropping a piece of dry ice in the veggie hospice.
Ozone is pollutant, you shouldn’t inhale it or overconcentrate it – hence it requires seals and sensors. While CO2 displaces the oxygen (the main cause of spoilage), is widely available and non toxic
I’m more of a liquid nitrogen kind of guy
Where do you keep your setup with it? In my exp it takes a lot of space if stored properly (out of sight & safely)
In between my fridge and the floor
